Pasta with Spinach Pesto Sauce

I made a few changes to this and liked the results. Used only 12 oz whole wheat pasta, added the garlic and 1 T olive oil to the onions and mushrooms rather than in the food processor. I used vegetable broth and "baco bits" to maintain the vegetarian nature of the dish. Also added about 1 tsp salt and a good handful of fresh basil leaves to the pesto. My husband said I should put this one on the "keeper" list and make it again.

A great, healthy alternative. It was really good but the recipe says "firm silken tofu". It should possibly say "firm or silken". Also, perhaps frozen spinach would work, too? Will try this again!

Excellent recipe! Healthy and very tasty. I would cut the amount of pasta down next time to have more sauce.

I didn't have tofu on hand, but it's excellent without it as well.. My husband even loved it, and that man doesn't like ANYTHING. :)

I just made the sauce itself - left out chicken broth and all the mushrooms. It was amazing. It tasted like it was very bad for you, when in fact it is very healthy. five stars!

Healthy, green, and wholesome. With just the right kick of garlic. I added more broth and some milk to smooth out the pesto. You might expand the pesto recipe a little to balance out with the amount of pasta (or save the pasta for another sauce later). Frozen spinach ("brick spinach") worked just fine. My dad ate it up!! Ha ha... I'm slowly but surely converting my family to vegetarianism...

This was good. I think 1 lb of pasta was too much, or there should've been more sauce. My hubby ate it up then I told him about the tofu. He couldn't believe it! Yummy!

a very healthy alternative to pesto (spinach is so good for you) but not exactly the same thing. I liked it as a spinach sauce-type thing but a pesto it is not...

Not as good as everyone made it out to be. Try Suki's Spinach and Feta Pasta ...so much better and half the mess.

I think I screwed up though...my sauce was really thick and it looked really unappealing...

This was fantastic! I did not have shiitake mushrooms, so I just used fresh white mushrooms. It was very simple to put together, and the recipe makes quite a bit. I also used soy bacon for the bacon bits. This one is a keeper!

I found this recipe required too much spinach. I think it would have tasted better if only half was used. Overall I found it very bland.

it wasn't a big surprise that my family didn't care for this, but i love spinach and pesto, so i had high hopes for this recipe, but even i didn't care for it. i really wanted to like it, but it was too bitter. maybe the frozen spinach used by some alleviated that problem--not sure; however, i used the leftover spinach pesto in a polenta lasagna (mixed with spaghetti sauce) and it tasted great. i think the cooking of the spinach sweetened the flavor.

Oh this was yummy. I didn't have bacon bits, so I substituted turkey pepperoni, diced very small. This one is a keeper.

This just didn't work for my family. It was very bland!

Outstanding recipe! My family was a little reluctant when they saw the color, but once they tasted it, it was all over and all gone!!! Thank you so much.

My husband loved this recipe! I would leave out the bacon bits next time because it seemed to overpower the pesto sauce flavor.

this was great for a weeknight dinner. i scaled the recipe down a bit and eyeballed some proportions, but this was simply easy, healthy and delicious.

This was super yummy! Even better because it was pretty healthy! I didn't follow the amounts to the T because I have a small food processor and I had tons of spinach so I just eyeballed most of it and seasoned to taste. Served it with pre made chicken pesto tortellini. This was awesome and after my husband ate it I told him there was tofu in it and he could't beleive it. I thought for sure you could taste it but you couldn't. Perfect healthy pesto!!!!!

I'm not sure what I did, but this recipe did not work for me. Mine did not look like the picture at all. The sauce was like a green soup and the flavor was just off. It's got good reviews, but I'm not sure what I did wrong.

I guess it was ok for healthy pesto, but I really don't think it tasted all that great. Both hubby and I said it was ok to eat, but won't be making it again. Maybe it's the raw spinach taste, but something about this dish is not right. It looked a bit unappetizing too.

An interesting recipe. I was intrigued by the idea of using tofu as a creamy sauce base since my boyfriend is lactose intolerant and I can't make creamy sauces often. The recipe says "firm silken tofu" which is confusing since those are the two ends of the tofu spectrum, but assuming it meant soft enough for use in a sauce, I used soft tofu. I don't have a blender so I cut up the spinach by hand and used a mixer for the rest. It was still a little thicker than I'd like so I added more chicken stock. I also increased the spice, and used a variety I had on hand instead of 'italian', and tossed in some tomatoes. It turned out very well.

I made my first batch of homemade pasta today, and the Spinach Pesto Sauce went really well with it. The Pesto Sauce was really easy to make, and I had a lot of fun doing it. I couldn't really taste the Parmesan, really. I think that I am going to try Feta the next time I make this. Overall, 4/5

It was quite easy to make, which made it that much more fun to prepare. A surprisingly tasty dish, with no hint that it was so "nutritious" (i.e. tofu as an ingredient.) I passed it along to my Mom & Dad it was so good!

very good and simple recipe!

Ok so I have a few comments. 1. Cover almost anything in Parmesan cheese and bacon and I will eat it. This needed extra of both to be edible (I really hate wasting food.). 2. I do NOT recommend using a blender to make this recipe. It took forever and was VERY frustrating to make - I had to keep stopping the blender and pushing all the spinach leaves down to the bottom. 3. This is MESSY to make! I just scrubbed the kitchen floor this afternoon and now it has little green stains all over it from me splashing from the blender and the pan on the stove. 4. Despite the fact that I know there is tofu in this, I keep wanting chicken tossed in it to add protein. If I made it again - which I will not - I would skip the tofu and just toss grilled chicken in with the pasta. All that being said, considering this is ridiculously healthy for a pasta dish, I appreciate the innovation of using spinach for pesto and adding tofu for its added health and nutrition benefits as well. But overall, the flavor of this is off I will probably force myself to eat the leftovers, but I won't make this again.

I was pleasantly suprised at how good this was! Followed the recipe to the T, and will definitely make again - even my little ones liked it! (I did use baby spinach though, which has a much milder flavor!)

Absolutely love this! I only had whole wheat orzo in the house, so I used that. This was a great way to use up a lot of spinach that a co-worker gave me. Tastes very fresh and a breeze to make. My husband actually ate his as a dip on crackers (kind of like hummus.) I tried it and it was really good - who knew? Great recipe - thanks!

Delicious! I left out the tofu and bacon, used fresh oregano and basil in place of "Italian seasoning", and used only white mushrooms. It was amazing-- quite a lot better than I expected. I'm glad I tried this and will make it many more times in the future.

I'm sure it's quite a healthy dish, but, both my wife and I thought it was quite bland. We followed the recipe closely, though we skipped the bacon bits, and had ~20% more regular mushrooms and 20% less shiitake mushrooms than called for. Won't make again.

Easy to make and very tasty. I omitted the tofu; the hubby is not a big fan. I also added a bit of EVOO to the spinach as it pureed. Tasty!

This was too much work for something that didn't have much taste. It had a lot of really good ingredients in it but they just didn't come together. I wouldn't make this again.

Um, I hate to be the one with the dissenting opinion, but my husband and I hated this dish! I was so looking forward to a good vegetarian pasta dish, but this just wasn't what I was expecting. It came out looking like green goo, which just didn't look very unappetizing. It was also bland as could be. No amount of salt and spices could fix it. I ended up washing off the somewhat expensive mushrooms for use in another meal and threw out the pasta. Sorry, but I will not be making this again.

Yum! Whole family loved this! Don't think the broth is necessary - tofu has a lot of water.

I switched out tofu for Feta cheese, came out really good!

My hubbie and I didn't really care for this recipe, it was very bland and I agree with some of the other opinions: the color wasn't appealing. We tried adding garlic salt and garlic powder to give it more flavor, but it didn't help. Maybe if you fry bacon, onions, and mushrooms together it might help. I don't know if I'd make this again, it was a lot of work.

Both my boyfriend and I were not fans of this recipe. The tart flavor of the spinach was overwhelming, and it did not mix well with the garlickiness.

Excellent replacement for the high fat alternative!

I LOVE THIS RECIPE. my roommates were laughing at me as I tried to blend the tofu in a magic bullet but then they were grateful when I presented them with a delicious dish. My sister was shocked when I told her she had eaten spinach AND tofu!! This beats any pesto cream sauce out there.

Light, delicious and fast to make. Three cheers for Sheila

YUMMY! I would make this as a dip for bread, as an appetizer too. Very healthy. This is a great pesto, without all the added fat of pine nuts.

I didn't use the chicken broth, bacon, or cheese and this still turned out great!

I was so excited to make this but it was missing something or many things! I ended up putting more bacon,cheese & a little salt and it still tasted below average. Do not keep for leftovers. I made this dish for myself (already knowing the family wouldn't like it)and I tried to eat more the next day.. Also, it took forever to make it because it was so much in the blender, it would not go. I had to keep moving things around over and over and over to get the blender to even blend. It looked like a thick green glob. Will not make again!

this was an excellent sauce! i made it for company and everyone gobbled it up. then, i made it a second time for just me and my man and we loved it again! thanks so much, i will definitely be making this for many years to come.

This recipe for homeade pesto sauce was excellent. And the tofu was a great way to cut out fat but it was still very flavorful. Best of all, the boyfriend loved it!

Oh man, this is so good! I just finished eating it and had to come back to rate it. It was so simple to make, too! We used real bacon instead of bacon bits, and then cooked the onions in a small amount of the leftover fat. Omitted the mushrooms because I don't like them and the Parmesan because I don't eat cheese, but added a bit more garlic and some home-grown basil into the mix. TASTE-Y! We will definitely make this again, especially when we have friends over for dinner.

Very tasty. Like the zing of the lemon with the garlic.

Wasn't a fan of this recipe. Mine came out dry and pretty tasteless. Maybe I did something wrong!

Wow! This was surprisingly good! I added a handful of basil from my garden instead of Italian seasonings and it was very close to pesto. All my kids ate it. My daughter and I couldn't get over how good it was. Great recipe and I will be using this instead of pesto recipes. I also used baco bits and only 14 oz of angel hair.

This is a great recipe. We don't like tofu so we use grilled chicken and penne noodles, mmmm so good!!

Loved this for healthy option. Did it over spaghetti squash and added grilled chicken....yummmmmm

I used soft tofu and Added basil to the sauce. I also added tomatoes and chicken to the dish. Great base dish love using tofu as a base for sauces!

DID NOT LIKE THIS ONE

I made this recipe exactly as written. When I purchased my spinach it was not 16 oz it was in one of those plastic containers, I found it a little hard to calculate 16 oz, so I think I might have added too much spinach. Very green looking... I also did not have two different types of mushrooms and just used the one kind with the combined amount. After getting passed the greenery of the dish it did taste good and once I added bacon bits it almost looked a little like Christmas with the green and red.

Good stuff. I thought more bacon might have been better, if a little less sexy.

Wonderfully good..used half and half instead of milk ..added flour to saute onions gradually added half and half